Terra Incognita II: How to roast a pumpkin

One of the best things about fall, as far as I'm concerned, is cooking with pumpkin. In the past I've always just used canned pumpkin, but today I decided to try roasting one. I searched around on the internet to help me decide on the best way to do it. After reading several comments about the results being 'watery' I decided to go with dry roasting.

The pumpkin I used was an organic, pie pumpkin from the grocery store. I don't know what difference it makes to use a pie pumpkin rather than an ordinary pumpkin, but I decided this was not the time to try it out.

I washed it, cut it in half and scooped out the seeds.

I put the halves, cut side down on a rimmed baking sheet. I read that pumpkins release a lot of water while they are cooking, and I didn't want to take a chance on juices dripping into the oven.

I baked the pumpkin at 350 degrees for about an hour and a half - until the skin was a dark orange color and it pierced easily with a fork.

After it cooled, I scooped the interior into a bowl and pureed it with a hand blender. After what I'd read, I expected it to be watery and in need of straining, but that wasn't the case.  I ended up with 3 1/2 cups puree which I packed into freezer safe jars for storage in the freezer.

I'm looking forward to trying it out in our Thanksgiving pie.